patterns and dirty gun question

[rgref522]

looking for some feedback

last year i did some pretty serious patterning to find a new setup.  i know dirty barrels cause poor patterning so i kept  the barrel wiped clean after each shot to maximize performance and keep consistency.

im on a string of bad luck right now missing birds. i questioned my pattern so i shot a round at cardboard.   with a clean barrel i was putting 194 bbs in a 10 inch circle...  now i just put 97 bbs in that circle.  the only difference is that i opened a new box of longbeards, same specs. just different box, and that the barrel is dirty.

can a dirty barrel really reduce a pattern by over 50% if i haven't kept up on it or is something else up.   im not trying to blame equipment and it could be something im doing but at this point I'm questioning everything.



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[USMC0331]

Every shotgun is different ,factory ammo is out of your control it's possible there was a different lot number whether it's the shot or the powder and if it is the powder it's possible they can have a negative effec I will say though in my Remington shotguns they like a dirty barrel my BPS at mossberg like clean barrels.

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[JodyPenny]

Might possibly be the shells. I have read a few post about them. Did you buy the shells new this year? You might want to contact Winchester and see what they say.


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[rgref522]

i should have said i realize the shells may be a bad run,  i guess my post is really just questioning how much negative effect a dirty barrel would have.  i think a 50% reduction is pretty extreme to just blame a dirty barrel but wanted to see what others thought. 

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[JodyPenny]

I've never seen that much of a reduction. My patterns won't be as even through a dirty barrel. You might lose some shot but 50% is a bit much.


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[ChesterCopperpot]

I'd bet a great deal it's a bad box. Pattern them side by side with another lot. A bad batch of LBs cost me a bird last year and when I figured it out I'll never shoot those shells again.


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[rgref522]

I'd bet a great deal it's a bad box. Pattern them side by side with another lot. A bad batch of LBs cost me a bird last year and when I figured it out I'll never shoot those shells again.


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if i bought 10 boxes that were side by side in the store you think they are all from the same batch... possibly a worst case scenario for me!

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[Borden811]

My Benelli guns shoot better clean, +20 to 40 pellets, and my Winchester 1300 shoots better dirty, +20 to 30 pellets. That's out of patterns with 300 to 330 pellets for the Benellis, and 170 to 190 pellets for the Winchester. So I'd say a 50% reduction is definitely the shells. I've had my own bad experiences with longbeards, and no longer shoot them.

[ChesterCopperpot]

I'd bet a great deal it's a bad box. Pattern them side by side with another lot. A bad batch of LBs cost me a bird last year and when I figured it out I'll never shoot those shells again.


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if i bought 10 boxes that were side by side in the store you think they are all from the same batch... possibly a worst case scenario for me!

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If it's the same lot it very well could be. That said, the bad two boxes I had last year came from a gun shop owned by a friend of mine. He had other boxes from the same lot and we tried them. Another box from the same lot was fine. All that to say, who the hell knows?!? And that became my problem with Longbeards: observed inconsistency. If I can't trust them then it don't matter how great a single pattern is, I'm not shooting them. I'd shot them for years before that with great results.


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[bwhana]

For me, based on 6 different brand guns and many brands of ammo tested, the most significant factor was having a polished barrel for consistency above all else. The second factor was that longer barrels out performed shorter ones. Clean/dirty was one of the least important things.

[BandedSpur]

Find out for yourself by cleaning your barrel and shooting one of the LBs that only did 97/10. But I would strongly suspect the shells. Had a buddy experience poor performing shells from a box of LBs bought last year. They would not have killed a turkey at 40 yds (12 ga Benelli SBE, factory .665 turkey choke, 1.75-5s). I would never shoot those shells due to their inconsistency.